The Soldier and The Spy: Tess Danvers- Episode 7

Chapter 1

Tess would have understood if he had, but she was really relieved he didn't.

She didn't know how long they walked for, after days of sleeping and waking at all hours, what little sleep she'd gotten her sense of time had been warped but she knew it had been a while when the forest started to darken, the breeze on her legs growing cool. Eventually she could see the outpost they were heading towards and then Jay put her down again, taking a minute to make sure she was comfortable, somewhat, and secure, very, before he went to scout their way down; while he, Mouse and one other moved forward the rest of his team surrounded her, not so much they crowded but enough that they could all reach her if something made them need to. And they were his. The stripes on his shoulder patch had told her he was a Sergeant, the handy thing about uniforms but when she'd seen the deference in how the others addressed him, seen the admiration in how they looked at him and the way they moved when he did she knew they were his men. A unit that not just trusted each other but loved one another, a family like hers had been.

Where was her team?

She'd heard Hess and Selim say they'd been looking for her but they hadn't found her. Were they still looking?

How many of them were still alive?

One wasn't.

The heaviness came back and before she realized it Tess found herself looking for Jay, relaxing when she saw he hadn't gone too far. Distantly she knew she shouldn't grow too used to him, he wasn't going to be with her forever but right now he was the only thing she found safe and after so long without that feeling, with thinking, believing she'd never get it again she didn't want to let him go.

But there was only so much he could protect her from.

"Oh yeah, Restrepo's a real dream vacation spot." One of the men joked, a response to a comment the other man beside Jay had made and though the others laughed her heart started pounding.

She knew that name.

And that name did not mean safety.

She didn't know if she'd said something or if she'd started spasming again but suddenly seven heads were whipping towards her and seven feet took a step, but only one kept coming until it too stopped, those green eyes that matched too many shades of this forest flicking over her with concern before she finally voiced her fears.

"I'm not going there."

Instantly his face softened but this time it did nothing to soothe her. "Hey, it's okay, I know it's scary but it'll be safe the-"

"Safe?" Tess brought her hands to her mouth to stop the frantic laugh that bubbled out of her, terrified they would hear, that they would come. "No, no I know of Restrepo. It's one of the most dangerous postings, full- full of men who haven't seen a women in months-"

"They're soldiers. Like us."

So were the men who'd had her.

So had been the men who'd trained her and they hadn't been any better.

"It's different- we're American."

Because an American soldier had never raped a woman?

Had never raped another soldier??

No.

She wasn't going there, she wouldn't- she'd been spared that horror thus far but how long could that luck last? Whatever it was it wasn't long enough. Before she knew what she'd been looking for her eyes found the knife, the one with a bullet embedded in the handle but before she could demand it back, demand they gave her the same mercy they would give their brothers in the field Jay brought her attention to him.